Strong winds, racing drama and monster jellyfish swarms made for a thrilling Day 2 of the Audi 2025 WingFoil Racing World Cup Turkiye. With a forecast of up to 35 knots many of the riders arrived early at the Fenerbahce Sailing Club in southern Istanbul to double-check equipment and prepare for a day they knew would be physically and mentally draining.
Two Men’s fleets and a Women’s fleet launched from the slipway around midday in a heady mix of adrenalin and nerves as they looked out across a wind-whipped Marmaras sea. The racecourse marks had been fixed with extra anchors to keep them in place.
© IWSA media/Robert Hajbuk: Not an easy day for Sean Herbert [NZL]
Epoxy resin and steely nerves
Facing the racing with particular trepidation was New Zealander Sean Herbert who’d had a terrible opening day. He’d struggled to get enough front foot pressure and had worked into the night to fix the problem. However this morning, despite all his efforts, disaster struck before racing had even begun. Having changed to a bigger foil with a different tail the Aucklander headed out early to test the set-up. Caught by a huge gust, he hit the water so hard he punched a hole into the front edge of his board. An IWSA sticker, some glue and a bucketload of steely Kiwi nerves saw him make it to the start line on time.
It was enough to reduce an athlete to tears but instead Herbert finished top six all day and even scored a bullet. “The comeback is on!” exclaimed a gleeful Herbert, “I’m finding my groove and getting more confident in my gear with every race.”
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk: Grueling conditions on day 2
Gladiator duels
Alessandro Tomasi, who had revelled in the previous day’s conditions, looked strong in today’s shorter format too. The tall, rangy rider looked strong and confident in the gusts. However the Italian faced a new challenge that was not there on day one.
It came in the form of the series champion Mathis Ghio. The Frenchman had performed poorly in the long-distance racing but today was back to his sharpest best and the pair went at each other like the gladiators of this former Roman city.
“Yesterday, was more about reaching, really long reaches, plus the strong currents and big gusts meant I wasn’t comfortable,” explains Ghio during the session break “Today the format is more about upwind, downwind racing and the other conditions feel better too.”
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk: Francesco Cappuzzo [ITA] leads a three-way tie and sits in third
Ghio ended the day with four victories from his six races to march his way up the leaderboard to second place. Tomasi grabbed a couple of bullets but was hardly out of the top two which saw him hold the overall lead. With just ten points separating the pair the coming days promise some hot competition.
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk: Emilia Kosti [GRE] won three of her six races on day 2
Spanu’s Splashdown
The leading woman Maddalena Spanu showed today she can be beaten. Race 2 saw a gust catch her during a manoeuvre. It forced her wingtip to catch the water and over she went in spectacular fashion. The chasers took advantage as French woman Vaina Picot and Greek Emilia Kosti powered past.
The 15 year old from Guadeloupe took the lead but let it slip in the unpredictable conditions and Kosti went ahead. Behind them Spanu regained her composure, powered up and started to hunt them down - the Italian eventually taking second place.
It was the first of three second place finishes for Spanu with Kosti taking the victories instead.
There are now just four points between Spanu and Kosti at the top of the leaderboard, it’ll be interesting to see if the Greek can hold her nerve and continue to reel in the defending champion.
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk
Competition continues in the next two days with the men's fleet split in gold and silver fleet, while the women continue their single series. The action reaches its grand finale on Sunday 17 August, with the highly anticipated medal series, where champions will be crowned. Fans can follow every moment of the Audi 2025 WingFoil Racing World Cup Turkiye in real-time, as races are tracked live, with updates and insights shared across all official IWSA channels.
